I am pleased to announce that Continuing Lecturer Lily Anne Welty Tamai is the 2024-25 recipient of the C. Doris and Toshio Hoshide Distinguished Teaching Prize in Asian American Studies.

Dr. Welty Tamai is being recognized for her innovative teaching and generous mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students, especially in fostering their intellectual and personal growth. Her students spoke about the profound and transformational impact she had on them through her innovative and engaging teaching, support for students beyond the classroom, guidance with career paths, and much more.

"Her mentorship has truly transformed my academic journey at UCLA and helped me find a path I did not know existed. She is the mentor I didn't know I needed," shared one student. Another student expressed, "Her ability to imbue her students with the same passion she has for activism, community, and the subject of Asian American Studies deserves to be recognized."

A colleague stated, "Her teaching encourages students to not only become producers of knowledge but requires them to make that knowledge legible to others. This is vital in instilling in students the understanding that Ethnic Studies is a living, breathing, political endeavor and not something confined to textbooks, lectures, and bluebook exams."

Welty Tamai has been an instructor for the UCLA Asian American Studies Department for almost a decade. At UCLA she teaches Asian American Studies 20, 20W, 30W, 115, 131A, 140XL, 170, and 187C (Multiracial and Multiethnic Asian Americans). Some of her notable and popular courses include ASIA AM 20 and ASIA AM 30, both of which consistently recruit students to the Asian American Studies major and minor because many students feel the course is transformative. ASIA AM 187C on Multiracial and Multiethnic Asian Americans, a course that Lily is uniquely positioned to teach with her research expertise has met the needs of an increasingly multiethnic and multiracial Asian American community. ASIA AM 140XL is particularly meaningful for students who have expressed that service-learning allowed them to apply the founding principles of ethnic studies that bridges the university with the community through work that serves the people.

Welty Tamai received her doctorate in History from the University of California Santa Barbara. She conducted research in Japan and in Okinawa as a Fulbright Graduate Research Fellow and was also a Ford Foundation Fellow. Her forthcoming book titled, Military Industrial Intimacy: Mixed-race American Japanese, Eugenics and Transnational Identities, documents the history of mixed-race American Japanese and American Okinawans born after World War II and raised during the post-war period. Dr. Tamai was formerly the Curator of History at the Japanese American National Museum and served on the U.S. Census Bureau National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations.

"It is an honor to receive recognition for my teaching from the Asian American Studies Center for the Hoshide Distinguished Teaching Award. I am grateful to the hardworking staff in the Asian American Studies Department, my esteemed colleagues and my brilliant students for building community to develop and discuss ideas together in our shared teaching spaces. My goal is to open doors for students to introduce them to connect with Asian American Studies. Let's remember to lift others as we climb, as solidarity is necessary for our collective futures," said Welty Tamai.

We are honored to award this well-deserved recognition to continuing lecturer Lily Anne Welty Tamai for her invaluable contributions to Asian American Studies, transformative impact as a teacher, mentor, and excellence in scholarship.

The late C. Doris Hoshide, Class of 1934, of Rockville, MD established the teaching prize to annually recognize an outstanding professor in Asian American Studies. She and her late husband were longtime supporters of Asian American Studies at UCLA. The Hoshide Prize includes a one-thousand-dollar award.

Please join me in congratulating Lily Anne Welty Tamai!

Best wishes,

Karen Umemoto
Helen and Morgan Chu Endowed Director's Chair of the Asian American Studies Center